Recruits: The Valiem
by VastErimos
Summary: Many long years ago, the young half-elf Vast discovers that there is a fanatical religious movement that is trying to stage a coup. What will he do and say when there is a contract put out to kill him before he can protect anyone? [I wrote this as a step off platform for a short series of crossovers, this is also my first true attempt at writing. Please be gentle :)]
1. Prologue

"MOVE FASTER!" yelled the instructor, as Vast moved through the obstacle course. "Move faster, or I will make you sweat blood!"

Vast already knew that he could do it, so instead of pushing his luck with the instructor, he ran harder than ever before. As he arrived at the rope bridge he saw that a man, clearly of dwarven descent, was having a hard time attempting to cross it. Vast ,being half-elf and not wanting to anger the instructor by waiting for the dwarf to finish, jumped onto the rope handles and ran across as fast as possible, running right over the dwarf. "Hey!" the stout man shouted at Vast, but he had already finished the obstacle and was moving on.

Vast held the lead for a long time afterward, and didn't see anyone until he got to the last obstacle, the tunnel maze. These tunnels were small enough that Vast had to crawl in some places, and they were so dark that only a few species could make out anything in the dark at all, fortunately for Vast, elves were among those that could. As Vast was crawling through a particularly short area he heard something coming from behind him, he turned to see the dwarf sprinting as though his life depended on it. Behind him was the reason, a mass as large as the tunnel was wide was chasing him. It was too dark to make out details, but it sounded bad.

Vast managed to get into a crouching position an ran as fast as he could in the small space. Ahead Vast saw daylight, and out of the corner of his eye to the right he saw the dwarf. As they ran out of the cave, they turned almost in unison to face this new threat, together they watched as one, then two, then four, and finally eight hairy legs pulled a massive body from the darkness, it was a cave spider. The one thing working in their favor was the fact that there was never more than one cave spider per cave system. The downside was the reason behind this, they were larger than an average tree, they would raid dragon nests to eat eggs and baby dragons alike, and when two males fought over anything, it caused anyone nearby to think there was an earthquake, and this one was massive.

Vast pulled his training bow from his back and nocked two arrows, looking to his left he saw the dwarf draw his war-ax and look back at him. They nodded at each other. Vast let his arrows go flying, one missed completely while the other was a direct hit. The spider reeled back, then shot forward, with an arrow protruding from one of the eyes. Vast fired again as the dwarf sprinted for the trees.

'Coward' Vast thought in the back of his mind, then he saw something he never thought possible. The dwarf ran up the side of a tree and pushed off sending him flying right towards the spider, as he neared he brought his ax down on the midsection. The spider squealed in agony. Vast, seeing his opportunity, shot two more arrows into the back of the spiders throat. The spider crumpled to the ground in a ball of hairy legs.

Vast ran to the corpse, and began to survey the scene. He noticed that the dwarf was nowhere to be seen. As he was looking around the spider began to move slightly, Vast nocked another arrow just in time to see the dwarfs ax emerge from the abdomen the dwarf following closely behind not only covered in what Vast assumed was the spiders intestines, but also was carrying two bags that looked like, until recently, they were part of the spider.

"What're those?" Vast asked

"'Venom-sacs', I call 'em." the dwarf replied, "say that was some pretty good fighting, for an elf anyhow. The name is Mason." he said offering his gore covered hand to shake.

"Vast," Vast said taking the hand cautiously. "And not too bad yourself." if there was one thing that elves did, they gave credit where credit was due. "So, why do you have these 'venom-sacs'?"

"How about I tell ya over a pint of ale?" Vast started to nod, "On you?" Mason added in slyly.

Vast smiled at his newfound friend, "This time, next time it's your turn." Vast and Mason laughed together for a time, then they decided that they would finish the course the same way they had the spider. As a team.


	2. Chapter 1

Vast waited for his prey. As he sat on the edge of the clearing that he and Mason had picked out for their trap he watched his surroundings with his steel blue eyes. There was frost on the ground that had yet to see the light of day, and with the weather lately it probably wouldn't for the next couple of days. They had tracked the band of imperial soldiers all the way from the edges of the Canyons of Dragons, to where they were now, on the edge of the frozen northern forest.

To be honest Vast didn't think that his foe was going to be able to make it this far. _Why are we always stuck with the hard missions?_ He asked himself, silently. Of course the answer to that was simple: over the last 5 years, since the graduation ceremony from combat school, Vast and Mason had the highest mission success rating out of most everyone in the Renin Eteri Videum, or more commonly known as the "Kingdom of the Eternal Legacy". The only ones who did better were those with groups of at least 10, but they were hardly as fast or as stealthy as the half-dwarf and half-elf friends.

Vasts head spun around as he heard a battle cry from a little ways west, followed immediately by screams of terror as Mason engaged the Imperials. Just as planned the sounds of the five or six remaining men fleeing towards Vast came shortly thereafter. Vast reached behind his head, brushing his slightly longer than shoulder length hair aside, as he reached for an arrow. With the arrow in nocked to his bow he sat behind the bush waiting for his targets. He didn't have to wait long.

Five men burst from the tree line on the far side of the clearing, it was clear to Vast that they were on the edge of collapsing from exhaustion, they didn't have any form of unit cohesion, and Vast could see how badly their weapons were shaking as they turned to face the threat that they thought was rapidly approaching from the rear. However that was all part of the plan, Mason hadn't gone much more than 50 yards from his original ambush. Vast was the one who was to deal with these footmen.

Vast drew back on the elegant elvish bow and quietly dispatched the man who had been leading the men, and now stood behind them. As the first man fell face first into the frost Vast already had two more arrows nocked and drawn, aiming for the two men on the left. Even as he let the arrows fly his hand was already grabbing two more to deal with the last two before they could notice that their companions were already dead. Vast released the final two arrows even as the previous two found their mark. To the dismay of the half-elf one of the Imperials saw the arrows and attempted to move to the side and avoid it but all he managed to do was move enough that the arrow pierced his arm even as the other arrow killed his remaining comrade.

Even as the man fell to the ground in agony he looked around at the prone corpses of his fallen friends. Vast stepped forward out of the tree line walking towards the final man, as he placed the bow on his back he drew a small black dagger from his belt in one lithe move. The soldiers eyes went wide as soon as he noticed the only other moving body in the clearing. "Stay back!" he shouted as he attempted to backpedal using his one good arm. "Stay away from me, you impure filth!" he said even as he spit at the half-elf.

Vast stepped on the hand of the man's intact arm, preventing him from going any further. As he kneels down over the man he raises the dagger, "I do this because I must." He says in a voice just higher than a whisper.

The soldier freezes in fear and his eyes go wide, but then he relaxes. "They knew that this would happen and so did our great god, Vis, as these were his orders of us." As he finished speaking he began to laugh in such a way that it nearly caused Vast to lose his cool.

Vast brought the blade down and punctured the man's heart. Even with his last breaths the man continued his laughter, making him sound truly insane. Vast's slightly pointed ears twitched as he heard the heavy foot falls of his dwarvish companion. "Well done!" said the stout barrel chested man, in his deep slightly gravelly voice, "You only missed the one on your first shot!" He said poking some fun at his friend. Even as the half-dwarf spoke Vast began making his acknowledgments to the dead. "Why do you insist on doing that?" the Dwarf asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

"All life is sacred, and special." Vast started, "the only reason that I kill is to protect myself, and those I care for, but I refuse to revel in the taking of life." As he spoke he moved from body to body.

"You know that they would not show you the same curtesy." Mason replied as he began to rummage through the soldiers pockets. "Hello. What's this?" he asked pulling a small piece of paper from the coin pouch of the first man Vast had shot. "It has some odd script on it, might be elvish."

Vast snatched the paper away before the dwarf had even noticed that he had moved. "It's not elvish, if I remember correctly I believe it's from one of the oldest known dialects of this language." Said the elf, as he studied the paper closely. "I can't read it, but I know who might be able to." He stuffed the note into his jerkin and finished his acknowledgments.

Mason having lost interest had already pilfered the rest of the bodies for coin and other items that could be sold or traded. Once the pair had finished their work they left heading south. A few hours passed in the clearing, with only the wind causing any noise. Suddenly from the northern part of the clearing a thin man in a dark robe emerged from the trees. "You did well, but not well enough to deserve death. I still have need of you after all." The dark man said as he raised his hand and invoked his will on those in the clearing.

At first nothing happened, then the corpses slowly began to pick themselves up off the ground. They stood in a hunch and turned to their master. "Go join the others." The dark man ordered, waving his hand. The reanimated bodies turned and moved off to the south west, not quite in the same direction as those that slew them, but close. "So the plan proceeds, and this is only the start of it all." He stated to no one as he turned and returned northward, in the same direction he had come.

 _Soon Vast Erimos,_ he thought _your precious loved ones will be no more._


End file.
